When We Met
by VeroZ
Summary: A compilation of one-shots, where Mara and Jerome meet for the first time. Some may be OOC, All are AU. Chapter 2: Theme Park
1. Restaurant

**Hi! So, This will basically be a compilation of one-shots, where Mara and Jerome meet. Nothing else, really. Read on, and I'll explain more at the bottom!**

"Are you sure you can't come?" I asked Amber over the phone.

"Yeah. Sorry, Mara. Daddy really needs me now. I'll meet you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up, and put my phone into my jacket pocket. Now what do I do? I was in an Indian restaurant, Sheesh Mahal, where Amber was supposed to be meeting me. She had just gotten promoted, and we were going to celebrate by having a nice dinner, because neither of us could be bothered to cook tonight. I sure as hell wasn't going home on tan empty stomach, so I decided to jut stay here and eat.

"Can I take your order?" Someone asked, standing right next to me. I jumped and turned to him, to see the attractive blond waiter smirk at me. "Sorry about that."

The hell he was. "I'll have a... mixed grill," I told him after examining the menu, "and a coke."

"Anything else?" he asked after jotting my order down on his little pad. "You know that the mixed grill is only a starter, don't you?"

I looked at him in mock-surprise. "Really? So that's why it's under the heading entitled 'starters?'"

"Funny," he sneered at me, before walking away.

I got my small notebook out of my pocket, and continued writing the story I was working on. I loved to write. Right now, I was working on a story about a girl who moves into this city and makes friends wth a load of outcasts, as well as the most popular kids in school, and then falls in love with her best friend who has a crush on her. It's a cappy plot, but I don't care.

"What are you writing?" the waiter asked me, making me jump again. He was sitting at the table, opposite me. How did he get there?

"Gah! Don't do that!" I sighed, putting my hands on my chest.

"Sorry," he said meekly. He really meant it this time. "So, what are you writing?"

"Nothing," I told him, tucking my notebook into my pocket. Waiter Guy raised his eyebrows at me, and I sighed. "I'm writing a story."

"Really?" he asked, seeming interested. "What's it about?"

"Well, it's about a girl, Meredith, who makes frien-" I abruptly stopped myself, and stared at him. "Don't you have a job to do?"

"Look around. You're the only one here. It's been so slow today, all of the other waiters went home."

"Oh."

Mr. Waiter offered me his hand. "I'm Jerome by the way. Jerome Clarke."

I took his hand, and gave him a small smile. "Jaffray. Mara Jaffray."

Jerome leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "So then, Mara, why are you here all alone?" he asked me, tilting his head to the side as if he was actually interested.

"I was supposed to be meeting my friend her, but she's busy. Why?"

"Just. You're an attractive woman, sitting here all alone, and I just wondered if you were maybe... stood up?"

I blushed at this and became furious. He thought I was stood up? "Yeah, well you're an attractive waiter, not doing his job!" That was like, the worst comeback ever.

"Oh, so I'm attractive, now?" Ugh. I should have known that this guy had a big ego. I mean, look at his hair!

"You little-"

"Jerome!" Some guy called from somewhere, "Order up!"

Jerome went to collect my food as I waited impatiently. Within seconds, he had put the dish full of sizzling meat on the table. I licked my lips as Jerome looked on quizzically.

"You can go now," I told him.

He put his hands up and backed away wordlessly while I piled my plate high with meat and chicken. I then speared a small chunk of bright red chicken and popped it into my mouth.

Oh, hot damn.

I furiously fanned my mouth and clumsily poured myself a glass of water before gulping it all down in one go. That chicken was _spicy._

I heard Jerome's laughter and gritted my teeth. "Are- you- c-crying?" he asked between fits of laughter.

"No!" I replied instantly. But I still touched the corner of my eye and sure enough, there wre tears. I hastily wiped them away and turned to pout at Jerome.

"It's not funny!" I insisted.

"You're right, it's not," Jerome replied seriously. Then he burst out laughing again. "It's hilarious!"

"Hey! You sit down here now," I ordered, pointing at the chair opposite me.

He sat down, looking expectant, and I speared another chunk of chicken.

"Eat it," I demanded, thrusting the chicken at him. He opened his mouth, and I placed the red chunk into it, watching with a smug smile on my face as he chewed.

"Mmmh!" Jerome's eyes widened, and he was gesturing to my glass of water with wide eyes.

"See? You can't take it either, can you?" I giggled, as I handed the glass to Jerome.

"Touche," he said after finishing his glass of water.

"Are you crying?"

"Oh, shut up!"

And from that point on, we decided to sit and eat together, taking it in turns to eat the spicy chicken chunks and when they were finished, we started on the lambchops, and then onto the kebabs.

"This food is just too good!" I said after we had finished off the rest of the dish.

"Mmm," Jerome agreed with me. "Yeah."

"What time is it? I have to go back soon."

"Oh, it's about eleven."

"Eleven?" I screeched. "I was supposed to be back at ten!" I got up and started to collect my things, and get some money out to pay for the meal.

"Keep the change," I muttered after flinging a few notes onto the table.

"Mara! Mara, wait!" Jerome caught hold of my arm when I was about to open the door, and I turned and bumped into his chest. Whoah, he was a long way up.

"Um, yes?"

"Aren't you going to give me your number?" he breathed.

"Hell no!" I shouted. "Ask properly!"

Jerome grinned at me and leaned in so that our noses were almost touching.

"Mara? Won't you give me your number? Please?"

"That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Ahem!"

"Fine, fine!" I pulled a pen out of my pocketand grabbed Jerome's arm, then I pushed his sleeve up and proceeded to write my number on his arm.

"Bye!" I called out to him before leaving the restaurant. I heard a faint, "Bye, Mara," and a "Jerome! You've pulled!"

**Hi again. So, I have plenty of ideas, but I thought, since there are SO many ways you can meet, you can help me out a bit. Give me a setting, anything specific you want to happen, P.O.V, etc, and I'll write it! Or if not, I'll just go along with my ideas...**


	2. Theme Park

**Hey, guys... anyway, I forgot to tell you, Jara were in their early 20s in the last chapter. In this one, they are still in high-school.**

"Guys! Lets go on Colossus!" Alfie cried, pointing at the huge roller coaster.

"How many loops are there?" Fabian asked nervously.

"It's a quadruple cork-screw. You're not nervous, are you?" Eddie snorted.

"No."

"Come on then, let's go!" Patricia said impatiently, and we all rushed off to find the queue.

It was the summer holidays, and the guys and I had decided to go to a theme park for a few days, so that's where we were hanging out at the moment.

"An hour?" Mick asked, sounding irritated. "We have to wait that long?"

"We're in the queue now," I said, gesturing to the people behind us. "We can't leave."

"It'll be worth it guys, don't worry," Nina assured us.

There was a brief murmur of agreement, then evryone started pairing up to have their own conversations.

Now normally, I would join in, but the little couples looked really cute. I didn't want to disturb them, so I just stood there by myself, listening to my iPod as everyone around me started to converse. But after a few minutes, I felt a tap on my arm.

"Hmmm?" I asked, turning around.

The guy in front of me mouthed something to me. Well, it looked like he was mouthing. I couldn't hear anything apart from the music blaring out of my headphones. I quickly took them off and turned to face the guy again.

"Sorry, what?"

He gave a deep sigh and closed his eyes, looking deeply annoyed. "I said hi."

"Oh, Hi." Was that all? "Um, do you need anything else?"

"No."

"Okay, then."

I turned around and was about to pput my headphones back on, but the guy grabbed my shouler and spun me around, making me crash into him.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, bewildered, as he steadied me by placing his hands on my waist.

"I'm Jerome. Hi."

"You said that already."

"What's your name?"

"Mara."

I heard cat-calls and whistles coming from behind,and I turned to see the guys looking at me with big smiles on their faces.

"Cozy, Mara?" Patrcia asked me.

"Huh?" She nodded to my waist, where Jerome's hands were resting, and I jumped away from him.

"Who's this?" Amber asked me.

"His name is Jerome."

"Is he your secret boyfriend?"

"Amber!" I exclaimed in horror. What kind of question was that?

"I am!" Jerome whispered, making Amber squeal.

"How long have you been dating?"

"Three years," he answered before I could say anything.

"Wow, way to go, Mara!" Joy called.

"We are not going out!" I all but roared as I blushed.

"But why did he have his hands on your waist?" Amber asked.

"I tripped, and he steadied me."

"That's so romantic!"

"Amber!"

She winked at me and then turned to talk to Alfie again, and soon everyone turned to converse in their respective pairs.

"What was that?" I asked Jerome, glaring at him. "I've been dating you for three years? Seriously?"

"Well, that 'Amber' suggested it first, I was just playing along."

"Hmm."

"So, what school do you go to?"

"Why?" I asked him suspiciously as I folded my arms.

"Just. Let me start. I'm starting at Anubis Prep after these summer holidays," he told me.

"Reall? That's where I go!"

"Good," he said leaning closer to me. "I'll have the pleasure of seeing you _everyday_."

"Oh, hush," I muttered, giving him a light push on the shoulder.

"I'm serious!"

"Okay, moving on. Let's play twenty questions," I suggested. As flattering Jerome was, I wasn't used to compliments. They made me uncomfortable.

"Fine by me."

After playing twenty questions, I found out that Jerome and I have quite a lot in common. We both had a great taste in music and movies, and I also found out that he lived a few minutes away frome me, by foot. And that Jerome was really funny. And smart. I quite liked him.

"Mara! It's time for us to get on!" Jerome almost squealed as he grabbed my arm. He must have been really excited...

The rollercoaster had lots of small roads which had consisted of only two seats each, so Jerome and I had decided to sit together, next to Patricia and Eddie.

"Wow, this is scarier than it looked," I whispered.

"We haven't even started yet."

"Yeah, but- oh, we're going now!" I held onto Jerome's arm as we started going up, squezzing with all of my strength as if it would make us go any slower.

"Mara, that _really_ hurts."

"Sorry." I took my hands off of Jerome's arm and he put it around me. I snuggled into his side, feeling petrified.

"Is there any- AAAAAHH!" We started zooming down, and I clung to Jerome for dear life, screaming my lungs out. Jerome was laughing, he sounded as if as if hewas thoroughly enjoying himself. Or maybe he was just lauging at me.

I buried my head into his chest for the rest of the ride, trying to stop myself from screaming.

I'm such a coward.

"Ist it over?" I asked as soon as it felt like we weren't moving.

"Yes. You can let go of me now."

"Sorry." I got off of Jerome and got out of the seat, and he copied my actions.

"That was cool, huh guys?" Eddie asked as soon as the gang were together again.

"Yeah," Jerome agreed. "I enjoyed every second." What, of me squeezing him to death?

"Let's go and look at the pictures!" Nina suggested.

"You can join us if you want, Jerome."

"Okay, sure."

We went over to the picture stand and I quickly looked for the picture of me and Jerome. I blushed when I saw it, it was _so _embarrasing! The picture showed Jerome, with his head thrown back, laughing. He had one arm around me, and I had my head buried in his chest, and my arms wrapped around his torso.

"Aw, Mara! You and Jerome look really cute in your photo!" Amber commented.

"I wasn't. I was scared to death."

"Well, I'm buying it!" Jerome chuckled.

"I might as well," I said. "It looks quite cute, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, great!"

We both bought matching keyrings and Jerome also bought the A4 version.

"So, are you going to hang out with us?" I asked Jerome when we were all done at the picture stand.

"Well, if you're begging..." He shrugged.

"On second thoughts..."

"No! No!" he said hastily. "I'll come. Sorry." Jerome offered me his hand, and I took it, before walking over to the rest of the guys.


End file.
